Deus Ex: Human Revolution is an open-ended action role-playing shooter. If that sounds confusing, good.

This game breaks down all barriers of classification and seamlessly blends elements of many playing styles into an engaging and polished science-fiction game.

Human Revolution is the third game in the Deus Ex series and is a prequel to the original smash hit Deus Ex. Many gamers didn't think it would be possible to create a game with the depth and polish of the first incarnation. After all, the original is widely regarded as one of the best games ever created. The new game, by developer Eidos Montreal, is not only one of the best games since the original; it ranks among the top games of all time. It's that good.

First, let's get the minor negatives out of the way. No game is perfect, and there are only two things to even mention here. First, the artificial intelligence is sometimes really, really dumb. Second, the game underperforms on PCs. If you have a somewhat mid-range or older PC, I would recommend the console versions.

Now that we've got that out of the way, what's good about the game? Everything else. Let's start with the fact that this game allows almost any style of gamer to have a blast. Are you a stealth ninja-style player? How about an ammo-hoarding Rambo? Maybe a hacker or an acrobat? They're all possible.

There are so many combinations of playing styles that you could easily play this game three times over and never have the same experience.

If you choose to go the combat route, the shooting mechanics are solid, and gun selection is rewarding. If you choose to go the stealth or hacker route, the game provides many opportunities for non-lethal takedowns and a puzzlelike atmosphere of having to figure out the most efficient route.

Human Revolution also might be the best-written game in many years. The developer has done an excellent job integrating a real feeling of change into the game. Choices really matter here. If you choose to go one route in a conversation, you will absolutely notice the effects of your decision further in the game. Many games have done this before, but the implementation here is the best I've ever seen.

The bottom line is that everyone should play this game. Because it allows such a wide variety of play styles inside such an open world, it will cater to any type of gamer. Factor in the excellent story, and you will be hard-pressed to put this down once you've started it.